Chamber singers performed short arrangements of a cappella music from their recent pops showcase to various students in classes throughout the school day on February 12. The annual “Valentine’s Grams” were purchased by students for $3 as a fundraiser for the choir program.
The original arrangements were created by the chamber singers themselves. “We always arrange the music on our own for Valentine’s Day grams,” said senior chamber singer Peter Jones.
“Normally in class, we will get all our music on paper, split into our sectionals (groups) and then we teach ourselves the parts,” said Jones. “[But] for Valentine’s grams, we just listened to the song and tried to mimic it. We made it (the music) up on our own.”
Two groups of chamber singers roved the campus, one comprised of boys and one made up of girls. The boys sang either “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” by Stevie Wonder, “Everything” by Michael Bublé, or “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry to the recipients of the grams.
The girls sang “All My Loving” by the Beatles, “Toxic” by Britney Spears, “Sugar” by Maroon 5 or “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé.
Jones said he likes the opportunity to be independent and creative. “We definitely get a lot more freedom; instead of learning a song on paper, we can experiment with vowels and rhythm,” he said.
Chamber singer Anya Morrill said the process takes a lot of work. “We practiced a bunch for two weeks before,” she said.
“It’s tiring, but it’s really fun,” said chamber singer Sam Larson. “We all like singing, and we get to do what we love all day.”
He added that he also enjoys students’ reactions to the Valentine’s grams, especially the reactions of people he knows personally.
Morrill said that her favorite part of the grams was “seeing how red people turn[ed] when sung to in front of their class.”
